Occasionally, the script of a theatrical production requires the use of a firearm on-stage during the course of a performance. It is of course, always desirable for actors to simulate the characteristics, nuances and mannerisms of real-life behavior during the performance. Concomitantly however it is paramount that actors endeavor to preserve human safety, both for their own benefit and for that of their audience, while realistically duplicating human movements and mannerisms.
In scenes where the script requires the discharge of firearms, the paramount requirements for human safety have typically indicated use of blank cartridges (i.e., cartridges containing only a propellant powder and no projectile) such as, for example, a "starter's pistol." Such techniques endow a scene with realism through both the visual exhibition of the firearm and the aural report of the blank cartridge upon its detonation. Firearms loaded with live ammunition however, are well known for their characteristic recoil phenomena which, in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, imparts some degree of motion to the wrist, arm and shoulder of its user. Although recoil mechanisms have been employed in various configurations with firearms, those mechanisms have universally been constructed to absorb recoil and thereby, minimize the attendant motion imparted to a user's wrist, arm and shoulder by a detonation.